


fall on me with open arms, with all your light

by star_bunny



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: First Kiss, Force-Sensitive Finn (Star Wars), M/M, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Spoilers, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-18 11:46:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21910252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/star_bunny/pseuds/star_bunny
Summary: ‘So what were you going to say?’Poe blinks. ‘Huh?’‘Before I spotted Rey,’ Finn explained, 'you were starting to say something.’Poe shrugs awkwardly, his confidence from a moment ago lost. ‘Uh. Nothing.’Finn tilts his head, frowning meaningfully. ‘Poe,’ he says, drawing out the one syllable into three.‘It’s not imporant.’ Poe feigns levity. ‘I’ll tell you later.’‘You mean when Rey’s not here?’ Rey asked, her face serious for a beat before splitting into a mischievous grin.*What comes after war, when war is all you’ve ever known?A TROS fix-it alternate ending.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn
Comments: 26
Kudos: 485





	fall on me with open arms, with all your light

**Author's Note:**

> in this version Rey kills Kylo like she SHOULD have done, then faces Palpatine alone and kills him. there is NO reylo kiss
> 
> and it’s 2am so apologies for typos I will proof read this tomorrow but I had to get this out of my system after seeing tros..

Every inch of Poe was trembling; his breath was skittering in his lungs, his footsteps unsteady as though the ground below was shifting and rocking, his heartbeat erratic and spiking in the aftermath of battle adrenaline. He hadn’t expected victory to feel like this, this lingering edge of panic and anxiety, though if he was being honest with himself he had never allowed himself to think of victory at all, of what would come _after,_ of what he would do, who he would do it with - to think those things, to have plans and hopes and dreams beyond war, was foolish; it was too painful to plan a life that in all likelihood he would never have the chance of living.

But now he _does_ have the chance, and it is bewildering and incomprehensible and entirely too much to process right now, when all around him people are rejoicing with a jubilant roar of cheers. Someone claps him on the shoulder in passing and shouts a congratulatory remark, and Poe jumps as though he’d been clipped by a blaster shot, his senses temporarily thrown back into the overdrive of battle before reorienting on the here and now. He tries to quickly laugh it off because he _needs to pull it together, damnit, he’s the_ ** _General_** _-_ Poe stills suddenly. General. _Finn._

With this thought, Poe realises the true source of his lingering anxiety, and his heart lurches frantically in his chest. He pushes through the crowd with increasing desperation, ears straining to pick out Finn’s voice amongst the celebrations, eyes scanning the swarming crowds for the face he’d know anywhere, the face that always rose unbidden in his mind whenever someone asked him about life after the war.

Fact 1: Finn is alive. Poe _knows_ this. He heard Finn’s voice through the comms throughout most of the journey back, the other man talking in a near-constant excited stream, explaining what the land crew had accomplished, rejoicing at making the impossible possible, with Poe listening in quiet contentment.

Fact 2: Finn nearly died taking out the Star Destroyer, and Poe won’t truly believe he survived until he sees Finn in the flesh and feels him real and solid and whole and _alive_ beneath his hands.

Poe’s almost reached the edge of the crowd and still no sign of Finn, and he’s a heartbeat away from hysteria when he hears-

‘Poe?’

Poe stops, and whirls around to face the source of the voice. And sees Finn. _He sees Finn._

‘Poe!’ Finn exclaims again, grinning and starting towards him.

Poe raises a shaking finger and points at him, and runs towards him until the pair crash together, throwing their arms around one another in a crushing embrace. ‘Finn,’ Poe exhales, and all of the anxiety bleeds away, the knot in his lungs loosening as he clasps the back of Finn’s neck and tries vainly not to cry. He’d be embarrassed if he couldn’t hear Finn’s breaths hitched with sobs.

‘I’m so glad your okay,’ Finn says softly, still holding onto Poe tightly. ‘When that lightning took out all of our ships, I thought…’

‘I know. It was rough for a second, but I made it. _We_ made it.’ Poe takes a last breath, gives Finn’s neck a squeeze of reassurance before reluctantly forcing himself to release Finn, otherwise he wasn’t sure if he could ever bring himself to let go. He wiped a hand across his eyes, staring at Finn seriously. ‘And when you were on that sinking Star Destroyer…’

Finn smiled knowingly, mimicking, ‘I know. It was rough for a second.’

Poe laughed a little brokenly, the sound strangled slightly by the sobs caged in his throat. Finn was standing before him, his clothes torn and dirty, his face bloody and cut and his hair layered with dust, and _gods he’s the most beautiful person Poe’s ever seen._

‘Poe?’ Finn asks cautiously, and Poe realises he’d just been standing there staring at Finn like a _fool_. ‘You all right there?’

Poe mentally shakes himself. ‘Yeah, yeah I’m good.’ He looks steadily at Finn. ‘I’m perfect now.’

Finn beams back, and Poe feels something inside himself click into place, and he’s filled with a surety he hasn’t felt before. _I love him._ They had almost died _again_ and they had somehow survived _again_ , and the war was over and _this_ was the moment, now or never, whether Finn felt the same or not, Poe _had_ to say it. He closes his eyes briefly, and takes a fortifying breath.

‘Finn, I..’

‘Rey!’

Poe opens his eyes in time to see Finn dash away from him towards Rey, who had been standing a little ways behind the pair. Poe watches for a moment as Finn and Rey hug one another tightly, and then turns to leave to give them some privacy when Finn reaches out a hand towards him and beckons him over. Poe obeys (he’ll always come when Finn calls, would follow him anywhere) and when he gets close enough Finn grabs his hand and pulls him against himself and Rey, and the three of them hold each other close, Rey and Poe holding each other’s hand against Finn’s back, Finn’s face buried into their shoulders.

Rey is the first to pull away, surreptitiously wiping tears from her eyes; Finn, pretending not to see, turns to Poe. ‘So what were you going to say?’

Poe blinks. ‘Huh?’

‘Before I spotted Rey,’ Finn explained, 'you were starting to say something.’

Poe shrugs awkwardly, his confidence from a moment ago lost. ‘Uh. Nothing.’

Finn tilts his head, frowning meaningfully. ‘ _Poe,’_ he says, drawing out the one syllable into three.

‘It’s not imporant.’ Poe feigns levity. ‘I’ll tell you later.’

‘You mean when Rey’s not here?’ Rey asked, her face serious for a beat before splitting into a mischievous grin.

_*_

‘Hey,’ Rey greets as she settles down next to Finn where he’s sat atop a storage container, a little ways out of the centre of the Resistance camp. It’s a few hours since their victorious return from Exogol, and the raucous celebrations have died down now into quiet reflections, small groups gathered around fires, sharing food and passing drinks between them whilst quietly talking about what they’ve won, what - and who - they’ve lost to get this far, what they’re going to do now. Finn had sat with Rose for a while, listening to her explain her future plans, but when she had turned to him and asked, ‘What about you? What are you going to do Finn?’, he had frozen, unformed words lodged in his throat, but was saved from answering when Connix came over, her arrival giving him a chance to slip away quietly, though not unnoticed.

‘Hey,’ Finn returned the greeting with a soft smile. ‘How are you doing?’

Rey shrugged with one shoulder, nose scrunching. ‘I don’t know. I mean, I’m alive, _you’re alive,_ we somehow made it - we somehow _won._ But we lost too.’

‘Leia,’ Finn said solemnly.

A sheen of tears made Rey’s eyes glimmer. ‘It’s my fault she died-‘

‘What? Rey, no, it wasn’t-‘

‘If I had been a better fighter, if I had trained harder, I would’ve been able to beat Ren at the Death Star,’ Rey explained, her voice pitchy with the effort of holding back tears. ‘I wouldn’t have needed her to use all the strength she had left to stop him from killing me. She gave her life to save mine.’

Finn turned towards Rey, taking her hands in his own and grasping them tightly. ’She sacrificed herself for you because she _believed in you, Rey,’_ Finn stressed, ‘Because she believed in the Resistance, and she knew you could beat him. Because you did, right? You _stopped_ Ren, _and Palpatine._ And you did it all by yourself.’

Rey smiled at Finn, not entirely convinced, not yet, but maybe in time. ‘I didn’t do it all by myself, Finn’. It was her turn to be insistent. ‘This victory isn’t mine alone - it’s _yours_ , _General.’ - a_ t that, Finn laughed - ‘It’s Poe’s, too, and Chewie’s, and the entire Resistance’s. We all had our parts to play. I couldn’t have done it without you.’

Finn’s grin faded, face growing serious, voice reticent as he took his hands from Rey’s and clasped them in his lap, fingers fidgeting. ‘Still. I wish I could have been there with you. To help.’

‘Finn,’ Rey started, paused. ‘I don’t say this to offend you - you are an _incredible_ fighter, and leader - but I’m not sure there’s much you could have done on the ground with me. Ren would’ve probably killed you.’

Finn’s shoulders stiffened a little as a phantom pain burned through his scar, a living reminder of his last fight with Ren. ‘Maybe.’

They lapsed into silence for a time after that, thinking about the what ifs, the could haves, should haves, before Rey had a jolt of memory. ‘Finn?’

‘Yeah?’

‘What were you going to tell me on Pasaana?’

‘What?’

Rey pursed her lips, undeterred by Finn’s attempt to play dumb. ‘When we were stuck in the sinking fields. You said you never told me something, then when I asked you said you’d tell me later.’ She arched an eyebrow at him. ‘It’s later now.’

Finn looked away, suddenly unsure, his restless hands picking up a stray pebble from the container roof beside him and rolling it between his fingers. He was quiet for so long that Rey thought he was never going to answer, but she didn’t push or prod him, giving him time. Eventually, Finn took a deep, steadying breath, and stretched out his hand in front of him, palmflat below the evening sky with the pebble sat innocuously on it. Rey watched silently, expression curious at first, but then open with a flash of excitement as the pebble slowly, shakily, but surely levitated a little above his palm.

‘Finn!’ she shrieked joyously, eyes wide and face beaming. ‘You’re -!’

‘Yeah,’ Finn grinned back, his confidence restored. ‘Looks like it.’

Rey’s words were so hurried with excitement she stumbled over them. ‘This is incredible - when did you - how did you - how long -‘

‘Woah, easy,’ Finn laughed. ‘I don’t really know when it started. It’s like it was always there, but I’m only just noticing, you know?’ Rey nodded. ‘It was just…’

‘A feeling.’

‘Yes. An instinct.’ Finn looked away from her then, gaze low. ‘I felt you die, Rey. On Exogol.’

Rey’s face fell, distraught. ‘Oh.’ She swallowed, the memory of death and resurrection a little too raw, too visceral. ‘I did. Defeating Palpatine took everything in me. But I wasn’t dead for long - the Jedi restored me. Somehow.’

Finn tilted his head at her, eyes narrowed in confusion.

‘I’d say I’d explain later, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to explain,’ Rey said, shrugging a little offhandedly to try and hide the fact that what had happened bothered her so deeply. ‘I’m not sure about the specifics.’

Finn nodded firmly. ‘Well, who cares about the specifics? I don’t. I just care that you’re _alive,_ and here. When I felt you die…’ He trailed off, unable to finish, and Rey threw her arms around him, holding him tightly.

‘I know,’ she whispered, ‘When I saw the Resistance ships being blown apart and disabled by Palpatine’s lightning, gods I was so worried about you.’

Finn said nothing, but wrapped his arms around her too, and they stayed that way for a long time, drawing comfort from each other, allowing themselves to accept that the other was safe, and alive, and they could stop fighting, stop running. It was over.

*

Poe’s smile was sad and barely there as he saw Finn and Rey atop the cargo container in a tight embrace. He was happy for Finn. _He was._ Finn deserves the world, deserves any and every happiness the galaxy has to offer.

Poe turns away, heading back to his tent, BB-8 at his heels.

*

‘So what did you want to tell me?’

Poe jumps up from his bed, startled from his morose thoughts by the sudden appearance of Finn’s head poking through the tent flap. ‘Uh, yeah.’ He says ineloquently, then clears his throat. ‘C’mon in.’

Finn does, heading straight over to BB-8 and rubbing its head in greeting, the droid beeping happily in response. Poe watches him with soft eyes, tender gaze, aching heart.

‘So?’ Finn says and he moves away from BB-8 and drops down on to Poe’s bed heavily, the stress and strain of the day finally catching up to his body. Poe sits beside him gently, stomach twisting, painfully unsure of whether or not he should lay his soul bare and confess his true feelings after what he just saw. Would it be cruel to Finn, to tell him now that he had found happiness with Rey?

Finn nudges Poe’s shoulder with his own, dragging him from his reverie. ‘Poe? Are you sure you’re all right?’ Suddenly, Finn grabs hold of Poe’s shoulders, feeling along his arms for injuries. ‘You’re not hurt are you?’

‘No, no.’ Poe shakes himself free of Finn’s hands, and a flash of hurt twists Finn’s features. In that moment, Poe decides that he was to tell Finn; Finn deserved honesty, no matter any cost to Poe’s feelings.

‘Finn.’

‘Poe.’

‘Finn,’ Poe starts again, reaching out to take Finn’s hands but then stopping himself, instead forcing himself to keep contact with Finn even though he didn’t want to look, was scared of what he’d see there. ‘Finn. You are incredible. You’re amazing. You saved my life when you freed me from the First Order. And you’ve saved my life many times more since.’ Finn opens his mouth to speak but Poe cuts him off; now that he’s started, he can’t stop himself, can’t close the gate. ‘And you’re kind, and _brave_ , and so _good_ despite everything you’ve been through, everything you’ve suffered and lost. Rebelling against the First Order like you did? I can’t imagine the, the _strength_ it must have taken to break their conditioning, and then you joined me - uh, the Resistance, joined the Resistance - even when you didn’t have to, but you still _fought_ -‘

‘Because it was the right thing to do.’ Finn says it as a joke, but his voice and gaze is solemn, serious, and he means every word. ‘But, Poe-‘

‘I love you.’ Poe blurts out, and _gods,_ that was not he how wanted to say it, not how he meant it to come out, all in a rush, a hurried expulsion of breath like a drowning man’s last breath of air, but the words are out now and he can’t take them back and Finn is just _staring at him_ and _oh gods oh gods this was a mistake I shouldn’t have-_

 _‘_ Poe-‘

‘And it’s okay that you don’t feel the same way!’ Poe exclaims, voice high and cracking.

‘I don’t feel the same way?’ Finn echoes as a question, but Poe takes it as a statement.

‘I just needed to finally tell you, Finn. I don’t want to upset you, or cause trouble with Rey-‘

Finn holds his hands up in frustration. _‘Poe_. Slow down. What are you talking about Rey for?’

‘Because,’ Poe falters. ‘Because, you’re with her.’

Finn frowns, struggling to follow Poe’s rapid, almost incomprehensible speech. ‘I am?’

‘I saw you. On the container.’

‘Saw what, exactly?’

‘Just, the two of you,’ Poe said a little lamely. ‘Close, hugging.’

Finn raised an incredulous eyebrow. ‘Hugging?’

Poe shrugged, defensive.

‘I hugged you earlier, didn’t I?’ Finn asked, voice growing light with burgeoning laughter. ‘Gods, for a smart man you are a little oblivious sometimes.’

Poe’s shoulders straighten, indignant. ‘Are you mocking me? I can’t believe-’

But Finn never found out what Poe couldn’t believe, because he placed a hand on either side of Poe’s face and pulled him close, their lips crashing together clumsily. For a second, Poe is frozen, terrified that this wasn’t real, that he was dying in his cockpit somewhere and hallucinating the whole thing; terrified, even, that he was getting what he’d been dreaming of for the years since he’d known Finn, but then for the first time since setting off for Exegol his heart settles in chest, and he _knows,_ and he reaches one hand to clasp Finn’s neck, the other grabbing a fistful of his shirt as he tries to pull him even closer, deepening the kiss into something a little more desperate. They break apart when BB-8 beeps cheerfully, causing them to laugh a little breathlessly.

They are silent for a moment, absorbing, Poe playing with the ring that hung around his neck, and Finn just watching him contentedly. Then: ‘I love you, Poe. It’s the one thing I’ve been most sure of since leaving the First Order. And me and Rey, well, we’re friends.’ Poe’s hands move to cradle Finn’s head, and he presses their foreheads together, sensing Finn has more to say.

‘You said before that I was brave and strong, but really, I’ve been terrified pretty much this whole time. And I’m just as terrified now it’s over.’ Finn quietly confesses, a tear streaking down his cheek that Poe gently wipes away. ‘I wasn’t born into war, but I was forced into it, and it’s all I’ve ever known. The First Order, the Resistance. All I’ve done is train, and fight, and run. I don’t really know how to _live._ I’m scared to try.’

‘We’ll figure it out together.’ Poe pulls back slightly, suddenly shy. ‘If you want to.’

Finn smirks a little. ‘You really are oblivious. I just told you I love you, man. Of course I want to figure it out together.’

Poe punches Finn lightly on the arm. ‘Okay, okay, forgive me for being a little overwhelmed right now.’ He presses a quick kiss to Finn’s lips, gleeful, but then grows serious. ‘And I’m scared, too. I never really allowed myself to think about life after the Resistance, because for a long time it looked like there _wouldn’t_ be one. But now we’ve won - _we’ve won, Finn! -_ and after fighting for so long, I’m a little lost. I don’t know how to go back to a life without all of this,’ he finishes, gesturing around the tent with his hands to broadly indicate the Resistance.

Finn pulls Poe close again, his lips brushing against Poe’s as he spoke. ‘We’ll figure it out together.’

*

Later, they are squeezed into Poe’s bed, which is a little too small for two but they’ve never felt more comfortable than they have now: wounds tended and stitched, blood and grime washed away, tucked against one another beneath the sheets in a quiet, peaceful embrace. Finn is toying with the ring that how hangs around his own neck, his head on Poe’s chest, when he is suddenly struck with a thought.

‘Wait.’

Poe shifts slightly. ‘What?’

‘Am I still a general if the war is over and there’s no more Resistance?’

Poe grins, and his cheeks ache from smiling, but it’s a good pain, the best pain. ‘Of course. General Finn. It suits you.’

At that, Finn laughs, and Poe laughs with him, and neither of them can believe just how blessed they are to not only have won the war today, but to have won each other’s hearts.

**Author's Note:**

> I apologise for the unforgivably cheesy last line lmao
> 
> find me on tumblr @hazelfiver if you wanna cry about finnpoe with me!


End file.
